The time has come to say my goodbyes and finally take that deep breath I’ve been waiting for all semester — all eight semesters actually.

I’m so incredibly thankful to have come this far. Graduating once seemed like a long shot. Thank you to my teachers, mentors and thank you so much to everyone I worked with at The Sunflower.

The truth is I’ve never liked school. In theory, the learning is fine, but the homework and the showing up to classes are not so much. The Sunflower gave me the motivation to get up early, to come to campus every day and to do my best in class (mostly).

And inevitably, I learned some things along the way. I learned there are two things that matter when it comes to how you treat people, think about your work and school, and go through life.

Treat people with compassion; have empathy, and love for everyone — and have a little healthy skepticism.

A little skepticism, a little negativity, a little devil’s advocacy are essential for journalism, but I believe they are essential for everything you do.

In college there are plenty of people who will try to convince you of something.

Don’t blindly believe them, but also don’t hold it against them too much.

Everyone has their own motivations, and the truth is, you have to look out for yourself and your peers. Pay attention to the news. It matters to you, even if it’s hard to look at, even if you also don’t blindly believe that either.

But, I don’t want to leave on such an ominous note. Like I said, there are people that care about you. People are mostly good. Sometimes, people make mistakes, or act in ways that harm others. That doesn’t make us evil, it makes us human.

That’s the key: balance that skepticism with compassion. To quote that cliché (sorry Tom Shine, the Elliott School’s resident cliché-hater), lead with love.

I believe that people deserve understanding. That doesn’t mean you have to agree; disagreement is essential to a health democracy and university. It means you need to remember the humanity of every single person you interact with.

The aim of my whole time writing and editing for The Sunflower is to tell the truth. It’s an imperfect process, to be sure. But to tell the truth, which should be all of our goals, means genuinely seeking to understand others.

With love and skepticism,

Ainsley Smyth

Managing Editor, The Sunflower